I have recorded some mini DVD disks on a camcorder. I can't play the small DVD in the vertical DVD player. Is there an adapter you can buy to load the small DVD into the vertical DVD players, so they can play? I have a SONY DVP-CX995V DVD/CD player.

I had never even heard of Mini-DVD before reading your post. So, I googled it. Here are two suggestions for you after reading an article online:

1) Are you sure the mini-DVD disc from the camcorder is finalized? You may have to put it back into the camcorder to check this.

2) Can your computer read the mini-DVD disc? If so, you may be able to transfer the material onto your computer and then burn a regular DVD-R.

It may be that your Sony DVD player just can't read the mini-DVD discs. Unfortunatley, format incompatibility happens. Hope this helps..

I don't know of an adapter, although there should be some adapters around for the old mini CD's (like this one ). If that works with a DVD, that's going to be the only way for your changer to handle these discs, but I didn't find any marketed for DVD so there may be issues with compatibility even with one. In that case, the best bet may be what Jason suggested - use a computer to transfer the data from mini-DVD to standard 5" DVD. The bright side here is that you could probably fit two mini-DVD's worth of content onto a single standard DVD. This would also be good for leaving the discs in the changer long-term (cheaper and more reliable than a bunch of those adapters). If you are just checking the discs before archiving to 5" DVD, you might even consider a cheap (and it could be real cheap if you wanted it to) single-disc player to supplement the changer.

I did format the disk and it does play on other players. I have a DVD burner and did re-record the material and that works, but I don't want to do that unless I have to, editing is a pain. I've called music stores and that's the only solution they gave too. I'm hoping that one of you smart guys will invent an adapter.

If you have a DVD burner, you may want to look into software like this . I've used it with home video transferred from MiniDV (although I have to use an MPEG converter) - if you are starting with a non-commercial DVD (such as what your camera creates), you could fairly easily combine content from multiple discs into a single 5" DVD along with pretty nice menus. It would just be a matter of copying the finalized 3" DVD's to a hard drive, using a wizard to load each into the program, and defining as simple or complex a menu as you want (and no menu is an option). I used an older version to create my Devious Tiny Disc . Granted, a license for it will cost more than a cheap DVD player, but it'd end up costing less than a bunch of those CD adapters (assuming they even work in your changer) and the 5" discs could be made pretty quickly.

if anyone knows of where an adapter like this is available I'd love to know. I'm still unable to get video from my camera into my Mac. I've looked everywhere for this adapter and can't find one anywhere

Does your camera not have USB or Firewire ports? Either of those will get your video to any Mac.

My Panasonic camera's USB port only accesses the still photos stored on a picture card. There's no firewire port. The video data is only recorded to mini discs which cannot be put into a vertical slot drive. Panasonic made this camcorder for ten minutes, then realized all the mistakes they'd made, and quickly dumped it for a hard disc drive. No wonder it was so cheap - they were dumping them.

Have you asked Apple about it? If you have an Apple store in your area, they might be able to help. You could also get an external DVD drive that uses a standard tray. You might also try this link , but I don't know for sure if/how it will work with your Mac.

Apple actually submitted a patent application for an adapter ring, but apparently never made one. The Memorex item is exactly what I'm looking for but they quit making them in 2002, as did Philips and Sony but I've been unable to find one.

The Liberty site says they have them in stock, although if they've been out of production for seven years that would explain the $14 price tag...

When they cut the price is the best time to buy the service plan. If the unit's a turkey, you just "oops, dropped it" when it's no longer available and get a better one.

I've seen external DVD drives for as low as $40, but good luck finding the adapters - I heard that they disappeared from shelves because Apple's patent lawyers pounced.

gonk - don't know of the liberty site. got a url?

http://www.libertyphotoproducts.com/product/Mini-CD-Adapter,1885,487.htm

thanks gonk. I'll try them.

I finally got the adapter I needed - Thanks

Years ago some of the record companies (Rhino was one) came out with CD singles on 3.5" disks. They came with the required adapter to play on a standard CD player. Today all CD/DVD players and computer drives have the recessed well in the tray so these adapters are no longer needed. Some vertically mounted drives have a problem with the smaller disks though (the laptop kind don't have the tray and the disk is snapped directly onto the spindle so this isn't an issue). Sony even used to make a diskman that was sized to play those 3.5" disks, though it could also play the bigger ones (sticking out of the player!). I think I still have a few of those Rhino adapters someplace. The 3.5" CD singles are no more, turned out it was cheaper to just use a full size disk and only put 15 minutes of stuff on it than to have a separate line to make the smaller disks. The smaller disks did make a comeback, for business card sized CD-ROMs and for camcorders.

And, as in dsiple's case, slot-loading drives can have a real issue with the smaller discs.

Thanks to gonk I found what I needed at Liberty. If anyone else needs one of these gizmos, they've got them. Made by Sony, Liberty's item is 12445 MINI CD ADAPTER. A $14, a bit dear and $8.14 for postage (seems a bit high) it solved my problem.

Thanks gonk.

Wish I had happened on this forum a while back. Just for those who are looking for the mini dvd to dvd adaptor found on libertyphotoproducts.com they have gone up from 14.00 to 26.95 with 11.00 shipping. Talk about gouging people. Well I guess that is what happens when the big companies make something then make sure you cannot use it so they can force you to buy a new something. Its all about money in the end.

Just a heads up they are 26.95 plus 11.00 shipping now.